09.28.2013 - Caddo Street Grill - Cleburne, TX

Happy Sunday! Now, let's talk about last night...

I am going to start off by saying that yesterday had all the ingredients for a really REALLY horrible night. I got a call early in the day from my drummer, Cisco, letting me know that he had a death in the family and was concerned about our show next weekend as he may have to go to Minnesota for a funeral. Ok, life happens, we'll deal with it. The good news was that he would be there tonight. Well, kind of...

Since this was our first time at this venue and we were having an opening act (who would be using our sound system), I asked everyone to be there a little earlier than usual. A few minutes after 7pm, I get a text from Cisco - dealing with funeral arrangements, hoping to be there by 7:30. 7:30 comes and goes... finally, around 8 he arrives. Whew, ok, everything else was setup, just had to get him in place, do a sound check and we'd be fine. Wrong...

So, he gets set up and finds that, amidst all the family stuff he was dealing with, he forgot to pack the pedal for his bass drum. That's a bad thing. A very bad thing. So, he sets up and says he's going to run back to Fort Worth and grab one and be back in time for us to go on at 10pm.

9:12  a text comes in... "see if you can have the opener play an extra song to two to buy some time... on my way."

9:48... "Sorry, not gonna make it by 10."

9:54... "Probably another 30 to 45 minutes..."

10:15... "Burleson."

10:34... "Cleburne city limits."

10:43... "5 minutes away."

Meanwhile, at 10pm we've got a room full of people wanting live music. Heath and I are pretty much stressed out beyond belief. Finally, we had to make the decision to fire up the drum machine and play "something" in case it was going to take even longer. So, we sucked it up, explained to the audience that there had been a family emergency going on all day, told them what was happening, and then we started playing.

About 2 or 3 songs in, here comes Cisco. I'm pretty sure you could hear Heath, Brian and I sigh of relief all the way to Dallas. Cisco puts his bass pedal on, sits down and we kick on the full show.

Maybe we need more drama like this in our lives? We played better than we've probably ever played as a 4 piece. About the 3rd song (with Cisco) we noticed the crowd was starting to have a lot of fun, dance floor started filling, the beads started flying and it turned into quite the party.

What started as a really bad night ended up being one of our best shows to date. We got a lot of comments from the staff that they really enjoyed it, had a lot of people sign up for our mailing list, and Caddo Street asked us back for a return visit towards the end of the year. Can't complain about that!

On the way home, as I play video car arcade to avoid the drunks on the road, I started laughing out loud about how crazy this kind of life is. Then I laughed even harder at the thought that I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

This was my first time in Cleburne. Nice little town. Highway 67 seems to be proving a friend... same road to get to Glen Rose. Same type of genuine people. I look forward to 67 again in October at Hollywood & Vine.

On a side note, I gotta tell you about this girl that opened for us. I say girl because, as I heard it, she just turned 17. As Heath, Brian and I were standing there watching her, I jokingly said, "crap, I don't want to sing after her." Yeah, she's really good. I expect we're going to be hearing a lot more from her in the future and we hope to play with her again, for sure. Check out some quick clips I shot of her from the side of the stage to hear her voice. Still amazed that she's only 17. Thanks to Marti Ludwig for booking this show months and months ago and thanks for putting us in contact with Jade!

Ok, kids... I've been good all weekend. It's Sunday and is finally past Noon so all us sinners can finally buy beer in Texas. Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and I'll be talking to you again after our show next week in Forth Worth at Chubby's. Until then...

Stay gold,
RH

09.13.2013 - Cowtown Bowling Palace - Fort Worth, TX

Ok, ok, so I'm having a hard time blogging about these bowling alley gigs lately. Sorry. It's not that they're bad or anything, just the last couple haven't had any big moments that I find worthy of writing about.

This show... We implemented a full click track system without practicing with it first. Why, yes, I do think Jason Voorhees was in the house. A little rough on some songs, but overall, it's going to work.

Don't get me wrong by the short post - I love playing these bowling alley gigs and the people in the crowd seem to be having a great time. It's a fun night. There just wasn't a lot to write about this time. Maybe you should show up and cause a little somethin' to write about next time! We'll be back at the alley next month... until then...

Stay gold,
RH

09.06.2013 - Cutting Horse - Weatherford, TX

Last minute Friday night pickup gig! We didn't know we were doing this one until Wednesday, I believe. Sometimes shows just happen and this was one of them. 

This show had all the makings of a disaster movie. As I mentioned, it was a last minute thing. But, more impacting was that the day before the show, one of my dogs, Wojo, passed away due to a heart condition. I won't go into all the details here. Thursday night I got about 2 hours sleep, was up at 3am on Friday, then stayed awake until time to head to the show on Friday night. Icing on the cake was the 40 minute drive to the show turning into a 2 hour drive due to traffic on I-35W, then GPS took me the wrong direction at the venue exit, all resulting in my being late to sound check. I really like playing live, especially with Sand Dollar Rodeo. But, as I was sitting there in traffic, I really did not want to do it and would have welcomed a Friday night off. That wasn't in the cards, so had to suck it up, put on a happy face and make the best of it. 

So, we setup, sound checked, then had a few beers and relaxed until show time... 

This was our first time at Cutting Horse. It was a nice place, kind of a split venue - one side sports bar, the other side concert hall. Not a huge place, but big enough. The staff were also very friendly and I think the bar food was good... pretty sure I saw Brian chowing down on some wings. I don't eat before shows, but it did smell pretty good. 

We were opening for a band called Country City Limits. They are more traditional country than us, but that didn't really matter. As I am quickly learning, you don't want to play live in Texas on a Friday night during high school football season... especially during game hours. In other words, the place was not packed. 

We did ok, though. Had some folks dance and traded a few wise cracks with the audience. Mentally, I'm pretty good about being able to block out the "real world" when on stage, so the show itself was fine and I had a good time. It was nice to clear my mind for a few minutes. No complaints. 

Afterwards, we cleared the stage real fast for the next band, then I stayed outside packing gear for quite a while. As I packed up the last few cases, the beer and energy shots fizzled and reality came back in sight. I was ready to go home. Went in and made a quick "hello/goodbye" appearance and drove back home in silence. Sometimes silence is a really nice thing. Sorry to sound so down on this post, but I try to document the night as it was. For me, that's how it was. 

On the positive side, the place was a nice venue. We really enjoyed it there and hope to be back there again soon. On a better night (personally) it has the potential to be a lot of fun. If you're ever passing through Weatherford, check them out! 

Next show... next show, back to the strike zone...

Cutting Horse stage after sound check, picture from Heath's phone. Funny, it looks so small in the picture!